Monday, July 25, 2011

Okay, everyone. Get ready, get set, for a FaNtAsTiC giveaway! Head on over to Chalk Talk: A Kindergarten Blog and enter this fabulous contest April is running. Now for the good part! You can win 3 of my best selling units on TpT, just in time for Back to School!

It's so easy to enter...just follow her three little steps...you will definitely want to win these! Good luck everyone and thanks for following my blog!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I am constantly teaching and reinforcing sight words (also referred to as Popcorn Words in my classroom). I teach 6 of them each month through poems, games, songs, worksheets, manipulatives, etc. The kids LOVE learning new sight words (they think it's so much fun playing all of the games, little do they know how much they are learning!). I thought I would share with you some things that I send home for parents to continue sight word practice.

The first download is sight word cards that I print on different colour paper (for each group of 6 sight words) and send home. I make 2 copies for each student. Parents cut them out and do the following activities with their child (this is the note I send home). You can also use these flashcards in your classroom for games, word walls, guided reading activities or for students to keep in their literacy folders.

Please let me know if there are any other sight words that you would like me to add and I will create them for you. These 48 words are the ones we teach all year. Hope you find these useful! I would love to know what you do with sight words in your class.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Slowly but surely I seem to be getting my things in order for back to school...it's almost here...well, I start the first week in September but I know it's coming soon! You have to remember that I was home this year on a mat. leave and so, for me, I feel as though I don't even remember what I have in my basement in those boxes. Never mind HOW to teach...yikes! Being out of the loop for a whole school year is scary! I hope I remember what to do with those kiddies! So I'm slowly crossing things off my list and this was a big one...getting my pocket chart activities organized (this is the part about the toolbox). I LOVE using pocket charts, big and small, in my classroom. It is a student favourite during Literacy Centre time. I usually have two pocket charts available during Centre time. The big one has a poem, sorting activity, name activity, or something that 2 or more students can do together and the smaller one usually has a fun, quick activity or something where just one student would be able to do on his/her own at his/her own pace. I put out a variety of things for students to "spell" using small alphabet cards (i.e. names, sight words, CVC words, etc.) I found a much better way to store everything....in a tool box....not sure where I got this idea from. You see, when I see or hear about a great idea I write it down in my little teacher's notebook...problem is half the time I forget to write where or who it's from! So if credit belongs to you, please let me know and I will include you in my post. Here is a freebie for you - the cards fit in a tool box (I assume all sizes but double check before buying one). I got this one at Walmart about a month ago. I just used a label maker and wrote the alphabet out so students can easily put the cards back. The drawers also house CVC word cards, sight words and student names from our class.

Click on the pictures to download. Just print on cardstock and laminate.

If you would like to see more ideas for your pocket charts, visit my TpT store. I have a HUGE Math pocket chart package and a large coloured Alphabet package (the one included here is very small).

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I just heard that Ana from Ingles360 is having a Laura Numeroff linky party to celebrate this great author's birthday! I just LOVE all of her books, especially If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. In fact, I create a lot of felt board stories myself (it's super easy and much cheaper than buying them) and I have created 2 of Laura's stories for my students to use. And it's a GREAT centre for the students which can easily be changed weekly with each story you read.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

If You Take a Mouse to School

Tip: To make felt board stories, photocopy pictures that you would like to recreate and cut them out. Tape them (all around) directly onto the felt and cut out with a great pair of fabric scissors. If you want to cut out the mouse, say, in brown, tape the whole mouse onto brown felt. If you want the mouse's overalls blue, like I did, just cut out the overalls and tape them onto blue felt. Then glue the overalls onto the mouse (be sure to buy fabric glue). You may have to photocopy the same picture twice to do this. Then just decorate with fabric markers, googly eyes and glitter. Really easy and fun!

I'll post more of the felt board stories I have made in upcoming posts (there are tonnes of them!).

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

I have gotten some e-mails asking about how I incorporate literacy in some of my Literacy Centres. I try to incoporate literacy everywhere around my classroom, whether it be charts of songs we have sung, student names, art work students created with a brief sentence underneath (I even post these in the washroom - don't laugh!). So when it came to my House Centre I wanted signs to be posted there too. I have a small pocket chart that hangs in the House Centre and I made small vocabulary cards that I change every so often (I call this our Grocery List). Students can refer to the cards when writing on their shopping lists - I have these cut out in a basket with pencils for them to use (another cute idea!). I especially love to put out a few placemats and have students set the table. I like to be really organized (and I teach the students how to be, too) so they know to put everything back where it belongs when it's time to clean up (this centre can get messy and I have found play food and dishes all around the room!). These labels help. Here are some of the things that I have made for this centre.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Okay, okay, I know that I am WAY too early to start thinking about Fall but I went into my school for a couple of hours today because I know back-to-school will be here soon which means Fall will be here soon! I really do LOVE the Fall...although I am enjoying the summer sun so far! I have been working on this unit for a few weeks now - I really like to be organized, especially for the first few (hectic!) months of school!

Since so many of you wrote to me about my Literacy Centres post, I have added some Write the Room Literacy Centre Activities based on themes to my TpT store. The Fall one is now available! Click on the pictures to preview.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

If you have been reading my previous posts, you will know that I LOVE Literacy Centres and I noticed that many of you do too! I have to mention that if you have been downloading my freebies, you will notice that the spelling on certain things may be the Canadian way...so I have reposted the Literacy Centre signs that were spelled the Canadian way (Centre, Colouring) and changed them for my U.S. friends to use since so many of you sent me e-mails asking me to customize them for you.

There were a lot of questions in regards to my Sand Search Centre as well. The kids just adore playing in the sand and I wanted to make something related to literacy for them to do at the sand box. So I created an Alphabet matching activity and Rhyming (Word Families) activity. You can make these by keeping the metal top of frozen juice cans and taping (really well so sand doesn't get inside) the pictures. On a second set of metal tops, tape the letter or word so that students can match the two. The students really enjoy this activity and I know that they are learning a lot too! Here they are for your Sand Search centre - they were made a couple of years ago so when I update them I will be sure to repost.

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Thanks so much to everyone for following my blog and TpT store and entering this contest! I did choose a winner for the Back to School Unit ....

The winner is.....Kelly B.! I will be e-mailing you the Back to School Unit so please check your inbox soon!

.....but I wanted to thank all of you for your support..... so.....I decided to give away my Back to School Write Around the Room package to everyone else who entered the contest! I hope you will all enjoy it! Please leave me your e-mail below (if you didn't do so when you entered) and I will get that out to you ASAP. Happy long weekend everyone!

Thanks again everyone and don't forget to leave me your e-mails for the Write the Room activity!